Tissue boxes are often placed in rather prominent and visible positions to make the contents easily accessible. Since tissue have heretofore been packaged in rectangular cartons which are basically boring, for a more aesthetically appealing appearance, many consumers purchase various decorative over-containers which entirely encompass or hide the tissue carton. Such over-containers, which can be quite attractive, have been manufactured from wood, various plastics as well as metal and ceramic. Manufacturers quite commonly apply decorative printing to those panels of the tissue box which are intended to remain after the carton has been opened while brand identification information is confined to removable panels or overwraps meant to be discarded upon opening. No matter how fancy the covering, rectangular tissue boxes are simply inherently dull while decorative over-containers are merely expensive repositories for hiding hum-drum packaging.
In order to attempt to enhance the perception of facial tissue boxes, designer type vertical tissue boxes have been developed. However, again these boxes suffer from the same inherently dull rectangular configuration as do conventional horizontal type tissue boxes. Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an appealing tissue box configuration which can be readily fabricated using presently available high speed machinery.
While paperboard containers have been developed spanning a variety of configurations, none have been developed for the formation of a tissue box having an attractive and appealing configuration. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,892,714 issued to Wellman discloses a receptacle having octagonal side walls including a hinged lid such that the receptacle may be opened and closed as necessary. The container is formed for containing non-rectangular objects in a manner such that the container can be easily opened to gain access to the contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,267 issued to Mayea discloses an eight-sided prefabricated container wherein the bottom of the container is automatically configured with the folding of the side walls. However, with such a configuration, it is virtually impossible to place printed matter on the bottom panels, and more importantly, the bottom configuration would not be appealing if visible. Further, with the vertical type tissue box, it would not be possible to form a dispensing opening in the end of the container.
Clearly, there is a need for a decorative tissue dispenser which may be readily fabricated using conventional manufacturing equipment and which does not require the use of an over-container to hide the tissue box.